Welcome New Friends!

We are so excited to be meeting new friends. The first week has been dedicated to establishing warm caring relationships and getting the children acquainted with our routines and procedures. This week I took the time and modeled our learning centers.

Centers are a really important factor in an early childhood environment. They offer opportunities for individualized instruction and scaffold learning experiences for young children. They provide the children a safe place to take risks, explore learning materials and socialize with their peers. In centers we can informally assess the children as they practice skills and gives us opportunities to  deepen their understanding of concepts that are being taught. 

Centers also provide children opportunities to make decision and choices. Through modeling and a lot of TPR (total physical response) I've taught the children to make a plan, decide what center they want to work at, and then follow through. Giving preschoolers the opportunity to make decisions establishes a pattern of success and children gain a sense of independence and self-direction. It's really amazing to see young children grabbing their picture, talking amongst themselves, and then walking over to the center to work with the activities that are prepared for them. 

The students deciding where they want to go work at first... Child 1 "Let's go play with the letters first and then blocks", Child 2 "Yes, that sounds like fun", Child 3 "Let's go to ABC, then number center". 

The children made a plan, followed though and now they're engaged working on skills. This is a great time for us to join them engage in conversations and scaffold their learning. I often use this time to voice the children's actions in Spanish, expand on their comments, praise their efforts, and provide them with feedback.